Positano — Restaurant in Greensboro

(3.5 stars) Greensboro has quite a few restaurants that are frustrating not because they are terrible but because they have the potential to be so much better. Some look great on paper, but their exciting concepts are offset by mismanagement or inconsistent execution. Some have impeccable service but only mediocre food. In the case of Positano, the food is tasty and the ambiance is appealing, but the other aspects of the dining experience leave room for improvement.

Housed toward the end of a shopping plaza, Positano is fairly spacious. The brick and wood décor add touches of old-world class, and the restaurant is well-lit. This is a comfortable place to settle in for a meal.

The menu features much of what you would expect, which is to say pasta dishes (baked or create your own), pizza, veal, seafood, soups, salads, and apps. Positano also offers half or whole rotisserie chickens, but that is about the biggest departure from convention that you will find.

Of course, there is no shame in sticking to the tried and true if you can do it well, and for the most part, Positano's kitchen is on top of its game. My wife and I shared a fried zucchini starter followed by lasagna and seafood alla positano, respectively. The zucchini was cut like shoestring fries, and the batter did not cling very well, but the taste left no complaint. Positano's lasagna adds salami, ham, and eggs to the standard beef/mozzarella/ricotta/tomato sauce composition. The sauce is a bit on the sweet side, but the dense dish is satisfying. The seafood alla positano was billed as shrimp, clams, mussels, calamari, and scallops in a pink sauce over your choice of noodle (I went with linguini), and it came as advertised. The sauce was savory without overwhelming the palate, and the ratio of seafood to pasta left no complaint.

Unfortunately, not everything here is up to the standards of the food. Our server was not rude, but he definitely seemed to just be going through the motions. Wait times for food were moderate, and that was with the restaurant far from capacity. Perhaps the biggest gripe here is the relative lack of value. On its face, Positano's pricing is reasonable: $10 for our app, $14 for the lasagna, and $20 for the seafood dish. However, the lasagna ran on the small side, and neither entree came with salads (a $3 addition, if you are so inclined).

Even with these annoyances, Positano is a solid mid-tier Italian option. If you want to be blown away, save up for Osteria. If you don't mind overpaying for competently executed renditions of classics, you could do...

I’ll preface this by saying the food is consistently delicious. I see poor reviews talking about the food, don’t listen to them, they’re either daft or lack a refined palette. In either case, I highly doubt these “guides” could boil noodles, let alone make a traditional Italian dish. There isn’t a better Italian spot in Greensboro, as an Italian, trust me on that 🤌. The only reason it didn’t get 5 stars is because of a poor experience. I’ve been going here once a week, every week, for at least 10 years with my family. My father orders an off menu item that costs 28 dollars every time he’s there. I have consistently recommended this restaurant as the best Italian in Greensboro, and know I’ve brought them good business. Tonight, when I walked in to pick up my phone order after being told it would take 45 minutes, I wasn’t greeted by either employee, instead, I stood there awkwardly for a couple minutes before proceeding to sit down. I waited patiently because I noticed they were busy, I’ve worked in service (Country Club, Chick-Fil-A, coffee shop) and understand patience is appreciated, especially when understaffed. I was perfectly fine with waiting, even not being acknowledged, up until a certain point. After I had been sitting there for probably 10-15 minutes while my food was getting cold, a couple walked in behind me and were IMMEDIATELY greeted and taken to a table by the waitress. I don’t know this woman’s name, don’t care to know her, I’ve felt in the past she is judgmental and rude towards certain people and tonight only confirmed it. I’m not sure if it was my sweatshirt and gym shorts that made them think I wasn’t worth their time…but the treatment I received tonight was completely unacceptable. When the waiter finally got around to asking what I needed, he began being very nice and accommodating, perhaps trying to squeeze a tip, which is hilarious because I’m the person that leaves 20% even on to go orders. I saw they were working hard and would’ve showed appreciation for that, until I was passed over for a customer the staff thought was more acceptable. My Tiramisu was frozen again too, for the third...

Ate here last night with a group to celebrate a birthday, and talk about some really good food! Even the starter bread and dip was tasty, which is impressive. For appetizers, the bruschetta was really fresh and delicious, and the perfect amount of garlicky - it was very well done. We also got an order of fried mozzarella, which was good, but needed a little bit of tweaking. The cheese itself had a great taste and an awesome cheese pull; however, it could have used a few more minutes in the fryer, and the breading was very greasy. For some reason, the restaurant opted to serve it on a bed of random romaine lettuce clippings, which was certainly a (questionable) choice. Our entrees were excellent across the board: the shrimp parmigiana was the best I've had, on par with my favorite Little Italy restaurant in NYC, which is truly saying something. Same thing with the chicken parm. The rotisserie chicken here is on another level - the skin is delightfully crispy and well seasoned, and the meat itself was juicy. The lobster ravioli was generously stuffed and the vodka sauce on top made it that much better. Both pizzas - pepperoni and chicken alfredo - were flavorful and the crusts were perfect on both. The limoncello cake was a delicious, light palate cleanser, and the ice cream was a unique but yummy experience as well. The only thing I can really say as far as room for growth is the service: there were some times that our drinks went empty for a long time, with our server nowhere to be seen - which I wouldn't have given as much thought if they had been slammed. Also, I know it's for ambience, but it's really dark in this place, to the degree that it's hard for some of us vision impaired folk to see the menu. All in all, though, a good experience with some delicious food, and I'll...